5 Creative Tips For The Uninspired (guest post by Melanie Sklarz)

We’ve all been there at one time or another. We found ourselves just stuck. It may have seemed like everyone else had already come up with all of the good ideas, and we had nothing. Or we had been working so hard on our passion that once we finished it, we didn’t know where to go next.

The best thing to do in a situation, like this when you feel stagnate, is to create movement, no matter how small, day every day. Movement increases the flow of energy around you and your ideas and before you know it, you’ll be inspired!

1. Keep a passion log. Every day for at least the next week or so, carry around a small notebook everywhere you go. When something makes your heart race in excitement, jot it down. Did you recently start taking yoga or have you tried a new cupcake recipe? After a week, look back at what you’ve captured and see what patterns and insights emerge.

2. Make inspiration cards. Buy a stack of plain note cards or colored ones if you want to get fancy. Anytime an idea or inspiration strikes you, write it on a card. You may want to collect quotes that excite you or pick up book and look for passages that strike you. At the end of each day, read through your cards. Do you notice a new direction you should be taking?

3. Work on another project. If you are stuck in the middle of a project and lacking inspiration to finish, then you’re best idea might be to start another project. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but believe me it’s not. By working on something else, for example knitting a scarf, you may find the perfect solution to your first problem. Make it a habit to work on more than one project at a time to keep the wheels of inspiration turning.

4. Take a field trip. It doesn’t have to be somewhere exotic. Try a new restaurant, visit a quirky museum, or go shopping at an ethnic food market. Leaving your comfort zone and normal surroundings, even for a short time, can induce new insights and a-ha’s. Just be sure to remember to bring along a journal on your jaunt so you can capture those ideas!

5. Start a vision wall. Get a stack of old magazines, preferably all different kinds, and start looking through them in search of your perfect life. Just tear out images that feel right to you and ones that reinforce this idea. Next, take the images and arrange them on a large board or bulletin board, where you’ll see them every day. If you continue adding images, before you know it you’ll have a wall of inspiration.

So don’t worry the next time you feel like all of your inspiration has dried up. Take comfort in knowing that you are not alone and that most, if not, all of us have been there before. Remember that the situation is only temporary and that you might just need to take some time and try something new to allow new ideas to flourish.

About The Author: Melanie Sklarz is a teacher, artist and blogger based in Cleveland, Ohio. She spent almost a decade developing and leading innovative programs for museums as a teacher and curator, most recently in Washington, DC. As an informative speaker, she has facilitated workshops for creative women entrepreneurs and led a parent workshop on raising creative kids.

Melanie is also a mixed media artist specializing in collage. Her artwork has been exhibited at the FAVA Gallery in Oberlin, Ohio, the Dialogue Gallery in Buffalo, New York and The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, Virginia.

She began her blog Dose of CREATIVITY in late 2006 writing on all things creative while sprinkling in inspired hints and tips to promote creativity as a lifestyle -one dose at a time.

Finally, she earned a BA in Art History from Seton Hill University and a MA from the Ohio State University, where her research focused on women’s artistic production and activism. In 2005, she completed her creativity coach training with Eric Maisel, PhD, known as “America’s Foremost Creativity Coach.”

5 Comments

Great post, Melanie, and Crissy, thanks for having her as a guest blogger.

Number 5 is one I’ve never tried or really thought about, but maybe I should. I know a novelist who did that and she said it really helped her. The only unnerving thing for me about her wall, though, was she took a photo of the leading author of her fiction genre and put cross-hairs over her face!

I love this post by Melanie! For me, #3 is my key to getting unstuck. I have my art, my writing, gardening, cooking, and so many other sources of projects that I can easily shift my energy when I need to. This is such a great strategy and before you know it, your inspiration will come flooding back!

Elizabeth Johnson
on May 17, 2011 at 8:59 am

Excellent post,Melanie! I love it. I’ve written down all of your ideas, and I’m getting started with each one.
I’m passing them on to my daughter (writer/starting senior yr. in college), too. Great stuff!
You’ve inspired me. Thank you,
Elizabeth
Journalist/Writer/(former)univ. journalism professor
(American living in Ottawa, Canada)
twitter: ElizJohnsonSays
email: bjsmaison@yahoo.com